Apple back to being the market leader in wearables segment

20 November, 2017

Apple is back on track as the top selling producer of wearables after its third-gen Apple Watch, which was released in the month of September. This absolutely cool-kid-on-the-block connects it to the internet without tethering to a smart-phone. As a result, the company has managed to bag the top spot by overtaking Xiaomi.

It took the popular mobile giant to almost around 3.9 million shipments in Q3 2017, as per the new information from research firm, Canalys. The company predicts that the Gen-3 variant represented only 800,000 shipments, because of supply issues, which looks good for Apple coming into the Christmas season.

The number was a huge jump over the 2.8 million shipments clocked for the same period last year. It also gave Apple 23% of the market, putting it partially in front of 21% for Xiaomi, the Chinese firm that was at the numero uno position of the industry for the first ever time in the past quarter.

Apple's wearables division has somehow enjoyed renaissance this particular year of 2017, getting the top spot in Q1 for general wearables for the first time since the time of Q3 2015. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said in the company's latest income report that Watch sales went up by almost 50% for the third back-to-back quarter, mainly due to its focus on health services.

With respect to the other players in the market, Fitbit took the third position in Q3 2017 with 20%, while Huawei (6%) and Samsung (5%) followed in balancing the top five, without really seeming any to be a threat to the market leader. In confirmation of the impressive fragmentation inside the industry, other brands represented a prevailing 25 percent, as indicated by Canalys' figures.

Q3 is generally the year's weakest time for wearables deals since numerous consumers hold off on substantial ticket items until Christmas. However, as per reports, the best vendors were all doing brisk business the past quarter. Nonetheless, the industry was down by around 3%, primarily because of dreary interest for fitness bands.

Since fitness bands are something new, it might take some time to level up the game.The research company (Canalys), took that as a positive indication of the potential for smartwatches, now that Apple is putting forth LTE variants. One thing you can say is that the Apple Watch 3 does not deliver with LTE support in China and the reason for that is the evident security concerns, though it is a major market for Apple.

That is probably going to temper a portion of the positivity that the company has found in China, where the new iPhone 8 and iPhone X have restored its business to growth, following a testing 18-month time span.

Apple is currently doing a fine job in leading the market for smart watches with its unique quality and top notch technology. Way to go!